Pottstown man sent to state prison on gun and drug charges

NORRISTOWN — A Pottstown man is headed to state prison on drug and weapons charges in connection with a September 2010 incident in the borough.

Corey A. Brown, 28, a Pottstown man with no fixed address, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to five to 15 years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to charges of possession with intent to deliver cocaine and persons not to possess a firearm.

Judge Gary S. Silow, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, said Brown will receive credit for time he spent in jail, while awaiting court action on the charges, between September 2010 and January 2011.

An investigation of Brown began about 11 p.m. Sept. 6, 2010, when borough police responded to the area of the 300 block of Union Alley for reports of a suspicious person in the area, according to court documents. Police encountered Brown in the area and for officer safety patted him down.

“I then felt the front of his waistband and immediately felt the handle of a handgun with my right hand,” Pottstown Police Sgt. Michael Ponto alleged in the criminal complaint, adding a .40-caliber handgun was removed from Brown’s waistband. “It was loaded with 10 rounds of ammunition.”

A records check determined that Brown did not have a license to carry a concealed weapon, according to the criminal complaint. Police alleged the weapon had also been reported stolen in North Carolina.

A background check of Brown revealed that he was convicted in 2004 of a charge of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and as a result he was not permitted to possess a firearm, according to the criminal complaint.